Gamifying kendo practice
Tray
- https://www.reddit.com/r/kendo/comments/3e4t05/teaching_kids/
- https://youtu.be/qCQ7BcTG4yQ
- from https://www.reddit.com/r/kendo/comments/3e4t05/teaching_kids/
I make it fun by incorporating different 'games'. Who can get to the other side of the dojo fastest. Who can make the loudest kiai. Partner them up and see how many cuts they can make in one breath or one minute. It's not fun all the time but when I see them struggling to keep their heads in the game I spice things up by doing games.
The last couple of minutes I get some beginners to put on their men and let them practice or turn this into a small game as well. I get 3 beginners and I play the Boss. We line up Number one first. Number two and three on the same level, a couple of yards behind number one and the boss last. First beginners can block once, second and third can block twice and the boss makes things hard and can block whatever he/she wants (though often doesn't block that much, especially not when the kid is using proper form).